It would surprise no one that Minh
originally studied architecture and
graphic design. Photography was a
hobby before he began posting to
Instagram, where his muted color
palette soothes a tranquil simplicity
throughout @thismintymoment,
his feed that’s gathered more than

120,000 followers since 2014.

“A big part of my work is todiscover locations that have beenlargely ignored or neglected,” hesays. “I often wander the cities Ivisit, combing for the next diamondin the rough.” When he’s found agem, Minh tacks it in his iPhone’sGoogle Maps memory bank torevisit later. “Such as the case ofthis modernist 1960’s structure inLos Angeles [at left]—I had my eyeon it for a while.”The shot on the far left wastaken during a trip in Barcelona.

Minh decided to shoot the
concrete “M” structure on his last
day, but when the time came, he
couldn’t find it along the shore of
this industrial area, and light was
fading fast.

“I had to accept that I might not
be able to find it before sundown
and would completely miss my
chance,” he says, but luckily he
spied it just in time. Without a
tripod, Minh photographed it
handheld at 1/20th of a second.